Debrief

In other Qantas news, the airline has put pen to paper for a further six Boeing 787-9s to arrive between late 2019 and the end of 2020, which will bring to 14 the number of the type in the fleet and lead to the withdrawal of the 747 in 2020. (See separate story).

Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) said it proposed to reject Qantas’s application to maintain codesharing with Air Niugini on the Brisbane and Sydney to Port Moresby routes, as well as flights from Cairns and Townsville to the PNG capital. “The Commission considers that it would not be of benefit to the public to approve Qantas’s application,” the IASC draft decision said.

Qantas said it planned to add extra services to Japan and the Philippines while scaling back its presence in Beijing and Dallas/Fort Worth as part of changes to its international network. Under the changes, Sydney-Osaka Kansai would increase to four flights a week from December 7, from three a week currently, with Sydney-Manila to go daily from six times weekly. Also going daily is Qantas’s Sydney-San Francisco service, up from six times a week. However, Sydney-Beijing was dropping back from daily to five flights a week, and Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth was going from daily to six flights a week.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA GROUP NEWS

UK-based Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia have commenced selling flights between Australia and London under a codeshare partnership. The arrangement has Virgin Atlantic adding its VS airline code on Virgin Australia’s flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Hong Kong, as well as from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia has added its VA airline code on Virgin Atlantic’s Los Angeles-London Heathrow and Hong Kong-London Heathrow services. This gives Virgin Australia passengers a third codeshare option to London alongside existing alliance partners Etihad Airways and Singapore Airlines.

Virgin Australia says it is aiming to have a equal intake of males and females in the next round of its pilot cadetship program as part of efforts to boost the number of female pilots in its ranks. The airline’s group executive for people Lucinda Gemmell said the the airline was encouraging more females to consider a career in aviation, noting globally three per cent of pilots were women. “Our previous pilot cadetships have had up to 50 per cent females so we’re confident we can reach this target this year. Aviation is an exciting industry and we can’t wait to welcome the next generation of Virgin Australia pilots when they commence their cadetship.”

‘Our previous cadetships have had up to 50 per cent females.’

Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said in early May it had lifted its outlook for Virgin Australia to stable, from negative previously, in response to a strengthened balance sheet. The agency also maintained its B2 corporate family rating on Virgin Australia, while the company’s senior unsecured debt rating was also unchanged at B3. Both ratings were below investment grade. The outlook had been at negative since June 2016.

Unions representing pilots at Tigerair Australia have reached an in-principle agreement with the Virgin Australia-owned low-cost carrier (LCC) over a new employment contract. The Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP), which represents about 75 per cent of Tigerair Australia pilots, said in early May the new enterprise agreement was agreed to after more than a year of negotiations. AFAP executive director Simon Lutton said the new agreement would be distributed to pilots in the coming weeks. The in-principle agreement helped avert planned industrial action from pilots at the airline.

Air New Zealand news

Air New Zealand says is adding an extra five return flights a week between Dunedin and Auckland from October 29 2018 to offer residents the ability to have a full working day in Auckland or connect onto international services. The 25 per cent increase in seat capacity on Dunedin-Auckland follows Air New Zealand’s decision to walk away from its trans-Tasman alliance with Virgin Australia at the end of October. Currently, Virgin Australia operates Dunedin’s only international route with a twice-weekly nonstop flight to Brisbane.

Still on Air New Zealand, the airline says it has wet leased an Airbus A340-300 from Portugal-based Hi Fly to operate nonstop Auckland-Honolulu flights from May 22 to June 10 2018 due to problems with the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 Package C engines on some of its Boeing 787-9 fleet. The airline previously leased two Hi Fly aircraft to operate to Perth and Sydney. Maintenance requirements and operating restrictions imposed by the United States Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency has also required the 787-9 to be taken off the Auckland-Buenos Aires route in favour of the 777-200ER, as well as retime and add refuelling stops to other routes. The airline two 787-9s would be removed from service for as long as “a number of months” while their engines underwent repairs.

AIRLINE NEWS

Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be the first airline to operate the Airbus A321neo to Australia from July 2 when it deploys the next generation narrowbody on the Brisbane-Manila route. The A321neo, which will be configured with 12 lie-flat business and 156 economy seats, will fly between Brisbane and Manila four times a week, replacing the current three times weekly offering with older A340-300s. When it begins, the A321neo Brisbane-Manila nonstop service will be the longest narrowbody route from Australia. PAL is also planning to use the A321neo to boost flights to Melbourne and Sydney from its Manila hub.

Still on PAL, the airline was due to lift its Melbourne-Manila schedule to five flights a week from June 1, from three flights a week previously.

Emirates Airline says it is well placed for future success amid an improving global economy and lift in cargo demand after reporting profit of 2.8 billion Emirati dirham (A$1 billion) for the 12 months to March 31 2018, up from 1.25 billion dirham (A$456 million) in the prior corresponding period. Despite the improvement, Emirates chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said business conditions remained tough.

Perth has welcomed the first scheduled Boeing 787-10 passenger service to Australia, with the arrival of Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight SQ223 on the afternoon of May 8. Operated by 787-10 9V-SCA, SQ223 touched down at Perth a little after 1430 local time, at the end of its five-hour journey from Singapore. The 787-10 will be used on one of SIA’s four daily flights between Perth and Singapore. The other three daily flights are operated by Boeing 777-200 and Airbus A330-300 equipment.

Still on SIA, the airline’s first Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long Range) began flight testing in late April, kicking off a short flight test program ahead of certification and entry into service in the second half of 2018. The A350-900ULR will allow SIA, which has ordered seven of the type, to resume the world’s longest passenger service in nonstop Singapore-New York flights before the end of 2018. The aircraft is also a contender for Qantas’s demanding Project Sunrise mission for nonstop flights from Australia’s east coast to London and New York.

The chief financial officer of SIA-owned Scoot Vinod Kannan says he expects the Australian market to be a significant source of passengers for the low-cost carrier’s (LCC) expansion in Europe with upcoming four times weekly flights to Berlin due to start on June 20, as it was for its flights to Athens that began in June 2017. “Putting it all together we think Australia is going to be a significant contributor for both these routes and so that’s the reason why we want to shout out loud about Berlin especially in these markets,” Kannan told Australian Aviation in an interview during a visit to Sydney in mid-April.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has announced plans to set up a new low-cost carrier (LCC) for medium to long-haul international flights based at Tokyo Narita and flying to destinations in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. JAL said the airline would launch in 2020 with two Boeing 787-8s. It said Jetstar Japan, for which JAL and Qantas are major shareholders of, would focus on short haul and domestic flights within narrowbody range. “When JAL establishes the new LCC business, the company aims to create new demand, working along with the successful services provided by Jetstar Japan, which features domestic and short-haul international flights,” JAL said in a statement in mid-May. A slide presentation accompanying the announcement showed Australia as a potential market for the new airline.

FEDERAL BUDGET NEWS

Australia will spend $50.1 million over the next four years to boost security at 64 regional airports, with the funding covering new and upgraded screening technologies and associated infrastructure, the 2018/19 federal budget handed down in Canberra on May 8 showed.

Also, the budget papers contained a further $28.9 million over the next four financial years to continue the Remote Airstrip Upgrade program, which is used for improvements to airfields in isolated communities.

Other measures in the 2018/19 federal budget included $121.6 million over the next four years to improve screening of inbound cargo and mail, as well as $121.9 million over four years to increase the presence and specialist capabilities of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) at nine major domestic and international airports. This included the use of body scanners and advanced X-ray equipment at major and regional Australian airports.

The budget showed the Department of Infrastructure and Regional had allocated $20 million to set up international arrivals and departures facilities at Avalon Airport capable of initially handing 400,000 international passengers a year.

Elsewhere, the Department allocated $51.6 million over the next four years to maintain air services to Christmas and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands from Perth and upgrade local infrastructure. The budget said the government would “underwrite air services to the Indian Ocean Territories delivered by Virgin Australia for a further four years”.

The budget papers said the government planned to fund the establishment of a train link between the Melbourne CBD and Tullamarine airport “up to $5 billion”. While there was no budget allocation committed for the next four years, the budget papers noted “specific funding arrangements, including an option for equity investment, [would] be settled at a later date and with an equivalent contribution to be provided by the Victorian Government”.

And as work on the proposed airport at Badgerys Creek in western Sydney continues, the budget papers said $5 million would be allocated in 2017/18 to build a visitor and information centre that would include “exhibition space, presentation and consultation facilities, and public viewing access to the Western Sydney Airport site works”.

DEFENCE BUDGET NEWS

On the Defence side, the budget showed the federal government sticking to its plan lift Defence funding, with the 2018-19 budget taking the headline figure to $36.4 billion – or 1.91 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) – up from $34.7 billion in 2017/18. And Defence spending was on track to reach the previously stated target of two per cent GDP in 2021/22, two years ahead of the year 2023/24 timeframe the government had initially forecast.

There was a significant reduction in operational spending, falling from $903 million in 2017/18, to an estimated $750 million in 2018-19, and to less than $100 million in 2019-20. That forecast is in line with a reduction in Australian involvement in the Middle East, with the planned return of the remaining elements of the Air Task Group, and the likely end of the Task Group Taji training mission in Iraq.

DEFENCE NEWS

Acquisition of a new unmanned aircraft to replace Army’s Shadow 200 is under way with the Defence’s LAND 129 Phase 3 project office issuing a call for information on Australian industry skills in the “tactical UAS [TUAS] space”. The survey details that Army is seeking a TUAS air vehicle with a gross takeoff weight of more than 25kg and less than 250kg and that is capable of “runway independent operations”. The new capability is to feature EO/IR stabilised imagery; a communications relay payload; a laser designation capability; electronic line-of-sight communications; and advanced simulation.

The RAAF has taken delivery of two key training systems for its forthcoming F-35A Lightning II fighters, with a a weapons load trainer and an ejection systems maintenance trainer delivered to RAAF Base Williamtown by an Antonov An-124 on May 2. The equipment will be installed at the new Integrated Training Centre which is nearing completion at a greenfield site on the northern side of the base.

The US Navy has supplied a retired Seahawk helicopter for Australian Defence scientists to develop and test new fatigue testing technologies which, if successful, could significantly reduce maintenance costs and improve aircraft availability.

Airbus and Dassault Aviation have announced they will team to develop and produce Europe’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS), designed to replace German Eurofighter and French Dassault Rafale fighters in service from 2035 and intended to secure European sovereignty and technological leadership in the military aviation sector for the coming decades. “We are convinced that by deploying our joint expertise, Dassault Aviation and Airbus can best meet the operational requirements of the Forces in the development of this critically important European program,” Dassault Aviation chairman and chief executive Eric Trappier said.

INDUSTRY NEWS

Airbus has reaffirmed its full year guidance of 800 aircraft deliveries in calendar 2018 as it works to overcome engine production issues that have hampered its A320neo narrowbody program so far in the current year. Airbus chief executive officer Tom Enders said there was plenty to do to reach the 800 target. “The first quarter performance reflects the shortage of A320neo engines and back-loaded aircraft deliveries as we indicated in the full-year disclosure. It’s a challenging situation for all but based on the confidence expressed by the engine makers and their ability to deliver on commitments, we can confirm our full-year outlook,” Enders said.

Boeing says it delivered 184 commercial aircraft in the three months to March 31 2018, up nine per cent from the prior corresponding period, and maintained its full year guidance of 810-815 deliveries. The company also reported a 57 per cent increase in net profit for quarter to US$2.477 billion. “We continue to see the trend of diverse and balanced demand from a geographical perspective, as well as across the spectrum of airline business models,” Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Airport Monitoring Report for 2016/17 published in late April showed the nation’s four biggest airports Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney combined operating profit rose 9.9 per cent to $757.6 million in 2016/17, compared with the prior year. Meanwhile, aeronautical profit margins, which measures how much an airport retains in earnings for every dollar of revenue, ranged from 34.9 per cent at Perth Airport to 46.8 per cent at Brisbane Airport. “It is not surprising that the airports are so profitable, given that they face little competitive pressure and no price regulation,” ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a statement.

Australia’s two major airlines Qantas and Virgin Australia say they are largely unaffected by emergency airworthiness directives (AD) issued by the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in mid-April mandating inspections of the Boeing 737’s CFM56 engine. The emergency ADs followed Southwest Airlines flight WN1380 from New York LaGuardia to Dallas Love Field suffering an uncontained engine failure about 20 minutes after departure on April 17.

Airservices Australia will oversee the start of aviation trials as part of an Australian project to develop a space-based augmentation system (SBAS) which uses space-based and ground-based aids to support the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) that promises navigational accuracy to less than 10 centimetres. The trial, due to commence in June, involved using ground equipment in Darwin and Canberra, as well as recording both current and next generation SBAS on a flight inspection aircraft in partnership with AeroPearl.

Software company IFS and Australian engineering services company TAE Aerospace say they are running proof of concept trials on the integration of the fountx wearable assisted technology and enterprise applications suite IFS Applications. The The proof of concept, which is being trialled at TAE Aerospace, lets maintenance technicians visualise IFS software data related to the asset they are servicing on the fountx near-eye display. “Combining enterprise software with fountx multiplies what the system can do,” said Laurence Beraldo, general manager of fountx. “Making it practical and safe to access and capture data in complex industrial environments is a game changer for field service management. Relaying information in real time will drive new thinking around how you expedite the processes you have to follow in a high-quality organisation.”

Search and rescue (SAR) coverage for RAAF flying operations from five air force bases around the country will continue to be provided by CHC Helicopter under a 30-month contract extension. (See separate story.)

PEOPLE NEWS

Long-time aviation administrator and human factors expert Rob Lee died April 27 2018. Dr Lee was a former Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) director and former director of human factors, systems safety and communications at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). “Whilst he will long be remembered for such a significant contribution to aviation safety, he will also be remembered for his warmth, his love for his partner Sue and his family, his infectious smile, his international diplomacy, and for his musicianship, as lead guitarist in the Canberra band ‘Mid-Life Crisis‘,” the ATSB said.

Brisbane Airport chief executive Julieanne Alroe is the 2018 recipient of the Aviation/Aerospace Australia distinguished leadership award.